Easter Egg Hunts-More Than Just Candy-Lots of Ideas

Need a fun idea to spruce up your Easter Egg Hunt? Instead of just candy, why not fill your eggs with clues or puzzle pieces, or all sorts of things. Don' t miss the LONG list of ideas at the end of the post.

There are a number of different ways you can do this.

1. Buy a puzzle and simply hide the different pieces in different eggs. When everyone opens the eggs they will have to gather all the pieces and put the puzzle together.

2. Buy one puzzle for each of your children. When all the eggs are opened, not only will your kids have to put the puzzles together, but first they will have to figure out which pieces belong to their puzzle. Give them each a picture of their puzzle at the beginning so they know who's is who's.

3. Put the names (or pictures) of all the people at the egg hunt in eggs. When your children get an egg with a name or picture, they have to read it, and go find that person. The person can then either give them a small gift, or give them a clue to follow to another egg. This keeps everyone involved.

4. Create a scavenger hunt for your kids to find their Easter Baskets. Instead of them just sitting on the table ready for your kids, have your kids wake up to find an egg with a clue, that takes them to another clue etc, until they find their basket.

5. If you want bigger items in the eggs, that don't fit, Put a picture of the item, or the name of the item on a piece of paper in the egg. (For example, our kids love new pencils). Put a picture of a pencil in the egg and then when the hunt is over, your kids get to redeem their picture for the real thing.

5. Print off a picture of something familiar. Then, cut it out in different shapes and hide the pieces in the eggs. This is great for smaller children because you can pick a picture of a family member, or something else they are familiar with.

6. To make things even easier, print off pictures and then cut the pictures into squares. That way your kids just have to "make" the picture again, instead of trying to fit the pieces together.

7. Fill your eggs with letters. You can just write them on squares of paper if you want. (Or, you could get fancy and buy magnetic fridge letters from the dollar store, or use scrapbook letters.) You can write the alphabet and then have your kids put the letters in order when they open the eggs, or, put upper case and lower case letters in the eggs and have your kids match the upper with the lower when the eggs are opened.

8. For little ones, fill your eggs with pictures of animals. Animals that live on farms, and animals that are pets, or live in the jungle. When the eggs are opened, have your kids sort the animals by where they live. You could even do reptiles etc.

9. CLUES: Fill your eggs with clues. Our son loves to solve mysteries and work through clues. SO this year I am going to fill eggs with clues. Each clue will lead him to another egg. I am also going to hide puzzles pieces in with each clue so that he collects them as he goes.

Other simple ideas besides candy.

Squinkies- Pretty sure I like them more than my kids. Do you have some, you must get some, they are so fun. (They are least expensive at Target) 
Change (nickels, dimes and quarters)
Dollar Bills (you could save this for a grand prize, the egg that is really hard to find, or a golden egg)
Stickers
Anything from the dollar store that will fit
The little pills that you put in water and watch grow. Grow Caps. These were my favorite as a kid.
Seeds (plant them together when Easter is over )
Hot Wheel Cars
Hair ribbons and bows
Bouncy Balls
Erasers
Lip Gloss
Character Band-aids
Whistles (if you are brave)
Fruit Snacks
Silly Bands
Small containers of bubbles
Coupons (You can make them: "Good for one extra bed time story, etc...")
Baskin Robbins Bucks (good towards ice cream cones)
Sea Shells
Legos (they have smalls sets, you could divide the pieces amongst different eggs)
Toys laying around the house, that your kids have forgotten about
Playdough
Army men
Plastic Animals/Bugs
Bracelets/Necklaces
Marshmallows (they have colored Easter shapes for the holiday)
Rubber Stamps
Pony Tail holders
Mighty Beanz (we don't have any because I don't really like the "faces", but I hear about them at our kids school a lot)
Marbles
Tattoos (again, not a fan, but I know lots of kids love them)
Mini nail polish
Lip gloss/ Chap Stick

Hopefully that helps.
It doesn't have to be all about the candy.

DO YOU HAVE AN EASTER EGG HUNT?
WHAT DO YOU PUT IN YOUR EGGS?